Riquelme rules out Spurs switch

Juan Roman Riquelme appears to have ruled out a summer move to Tottenham.

The Argentinian midfielder favours extending his stay at Villarreal instead of moving to the Premiership club.

Riquelme has been a long time target for the Londoners with coach Martin Jol looking to add guile and craft to his midfield.

But Riquelme says he has no intention of moving from Spain and would prefer it if his current owners Barcelona came to permanent agreement with Villarreal or Barca coach Frank Rijkaard gave him a chance at the Nou Camp.

Riquelme said: "If Villarreal reaches an agreement with Barcelona I want to stay here for the next few seasons. I heard what has been said about Tottenham and I am not interested.

"Barcelona is the owner of my transfer and it depends on them where I will play from next season. But if I am allowed to choose I prefer to stay at Villarreal or return to Barcelona.

"It's not that I don't like Tottenham or the Premier League, the reason is that I don't want to move to another country once again. I prefer to stay where I am."

The London club could now switch their attentions to Andres D'Alessandro who has admitted he would consider a move away from Wolfsburg.